Recently, Crestwood Local Schools Treasurer Katie Hoffmeister provided the Board with a financial update. Hoffmeister noted that House Bill 33 (Community School Equity Funding Bill) was included in the Biannual Budget by the Ohio State Legislature. HB33 increases community school funding for brick-and-mortar schools by allocating to schools an additional $650 per pupil in both 2024 and 2025. Hoffmeister also noted that Senate Bill 153 and House Bill 187 are new issues on the table at the Statehouse. She explained that House Bill 187 affects homeowners and would require county auditors to use three years’ worth of home sale data to determine home values in 2023, 2024 and 2025, instead of only the most recent year, which the state has required since 2020. The change is desired in an effort to smooth the impact of single-year fluctuations in sales when resetting property values that, in turn, determine property taxes.
Similarly, Senate Bill 153 affects how a farm’s Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) is accessed. These proposed changes will impact farmland that undergoes reappraisal or triennial updates in 2023, 2024, or 2025. The adjustment does not alter the CAUV formula itself but rather calculates a farm’s CAUV at its next reappraisal or update as the average between the CAUV for that year and the CAUV it would have if it were in a county that had reappraisals or updates in the two previous years.
Hoffmeister noted that Portage Country will undergo reappraisal next year, and added that these issues will allow the House to reappraise land based on a three year average so that the growth can be slowed. This will lead to a smaller increase in property tax for residents. The County Auditors are considering a plan to slow the growth with an ‘inflationary cap’, and want to adjust the millage floor, which would lead to decreased revenue for schools.
In other news, the Board approval several donations. Among them, 20 sets of Clifford Bilingual books by Norman Bridwell, received from Windham Exempted Village Schools; $1,000 from Jacob and Courtney Holcomb to be used for lunch balances for those who need it most. The CHS Art Department received two lenses for Canon cameras – Canon EFS 18-44 mm ($199) and Canon Zoom Lens 75- 300 mm ($199) from Bailey McKarns. Joe Kotkowski from Lakeside Sand and Gravel donated team materials valued at $1,000 for Destination Imagination, and the estate of Robert A. Corbett donated $35,483.79 to Crestwood Local Schools.
The next Board meeting takes place at the Administration Building on John Edwards Drive on Tuesday, December 12th at 7 pm. The meeting can also be viewed online.
